San Perlita "Pearl of the Valley"
San Perlita, Willacy County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Part of the Carricitos land grant issued in 1790 by the King of Spain to Jose Narcisso Cavozos, this agricultural community and the surrounding farmland were developed soon after the Missouri Pacific Railroad extended a branch line to this area in 1926. The San Perlita Development Company cleared more than twenty thousand acres of land for growing staple, vegetable, and citrus crops and laid out the townsite of San Perilta. Since its development, the area has made significant contributions to the quality of life in this part of the Rio Grande Valley. (1984)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Once part of the Spanish-era Carricitos land grant, San Perlita blossomed as a farming community after the Missouri Pacific Railroad reached the area in 1926. The San Perlita Development Company cleared more than twenty thousand acres for cotton, vegetables, and citrus and laid out the townsite. The "Pearl of the Valley" has contributed to Rio Grande Valley agriculture ever since.
Why it matters
San Perlita typifies the railroad-driven land development that transformed the Rio Grande Valley into one of the nation's great produce regions.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Jose Narciso Cavazos
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Arroyo Colorado Lift Bridge
Rio Hondo, TX
The Arroyo Colorado, the Lower Rio Grande Valley's only natural waterway besides the Rio Grande, long blocked travel to the town of Rio Hondo on its east bank. After decades of flood-prone wooden bridges, a ferry, and a one-lane steel span, a new vertical-lift bridge opened in May 1953, stretching more than 380 feet and raising its span by electric motors when boats needed to pass. Designed by the New York firm Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Hall & MacDonald, it is the only lift bridge built in Texas between 1945 and 1960 that still operates.
City of Harlingen
Harlingen, TX
Platted in 1904 and incorporated in 1910, Harlingen was named for a Dutch town by founder Lon C. Hill, a railroad and business promoter who saw the Rio Grande Valley's future in irrigated farmland. The town organized the Valley's first irrigation and navigation districts and grew into a hub of finance, wholesale trade, and medical care. It became home to state hospitals, the Marine Military Academy, and museums of regional and aviation history.
Spiderweb Railroad
San Benito, TX
Col. Sam A. Robertson, founder of San Benito, promoted a railway so tangled with lines and spurs that valley folk nicknamed it the Spiderweb. Begun in 1911, its feeder tracks reached remote farms, hauling produce and passengers over routes that eventually stretched 128 miles and helped turn brushland into one of the nation's richest irrigated farm belts.
Home of Col. Sam Robertson
San Benito, TX
Sam A. Robertson, a wealthy civil engineer who saw farming promise in the Rio Grande Valley, began the town of San Benito in 1904 and served as its first sheriff and postmaster. He built irrigation canals and a railroad network linking farms to markets, and developed recreational spots at Padre Island and Boca Chica. The thick-walled, high-windowed house he and his wife Adele built in 1911 doubled as a fortress against cross-border bandit raids during a turbulent era on the frontier.